Effects of very low birth weight on brain white matter measured by voxelwise diffusion tensor imaging in adolescents without neuromotor and cognitive deficits

We applied voxelwise diffusion tensor magnetic imaging studying in a group of early adolescents born with very low birth weight (VLBW) who were currently without cognitive and neuromotor deficits. Our goal was to globally detect white matter alterations and explore their relationships with emotional-behavioral symptoms in this subgroup of VLBW adolescents. Subjects consisted of 24 adolescents: 12 VLBW adolescents (M:F=7:5, with average 13.1 years, birth weight of 998.3 grams and IQ of 86.8) and 12 healthy adolescents born full term (M:F=6:6, with average 13.7 years, birth weight of 3356.7 grams).